Rio 600 Portable MP3 Player Review - PAGE 2

This player has a superb LCD display. The resolution of the display is simply AMAZING. The size of the screen would lead you to believe it could only display a limited amount of information, but thats only because you havent yet seen a LCD screen on MP3 portables capable of printing crystal clear, mini text. Even beautiful LCD displays like those found on the Creative Nomad II didnt impress me as much as the screen on the Rio600. The player is capable of displaying 20 full size characters across the upper half of the LCD, where the song titles are displayed. But thats not all just below this full size text is miniature text that switches between displaying the Artist, Album name, and technical info such as file type, bit rate and track length. And just below that is the track number, total tracks, elapsed time, and volume setting. Above the alphanumeric portion of the LCD is a simplified icon system that indicates whether you are in repeat and/or random play modes. The only thing missing is some indication of what EQ settings are in effect. The LCD is also backlit by a nice indiglo-like backlight that doesnt hinder legibility in full light conditions, and nicely lights up the text in low and zero light conditions. The contrast afforded by the backlight in complete darkness is superb, and I didnt have to strain at all to use the player in the worst of light conditions.

The Rio600 is a very responsive, very fast player. I found this out very early on when playing with the many menu options. When you press the menu key, several tabs pop up at the bottom of the LCD, and you have access to a suite of options including some preference settings that control how long the player waits during inactivity before it shuts down into low power mode, and how long the LCD display lights up when you depress buttons. As with past Rio players, there is no LCD contrast control, but I had no problems with the factory contrast preset, so the lack of this feature posed no concern to me at all. The speed with which you can move between menu options and change settings contrasts starkly with the Creative Nomad II. The Nomad II had a very complex menu system that far exceeds the Rio600 in features, but it was also slow and clunky  the Rio600 dances through its menu options lightly and quickly, and you never get the feeling that it is slowing you down.

The player is also very fast when moving from song to song. Some portable MP3 players dont have the processor power or software capability to quickly jump from track to track, but the Rio had no problems keeping up with me as I let my whims take charge and hopped from song to song. I also enjoyed the speedy track seek capabilities, which far surpassed that of the Rio 500 (which seeked through tracks slowly by comparison). The final clue to the power behind the Rio600 was the way that the EQ settings worked. You access the EQ controls via the menu system, and move around using the D-pad. In the EQ menu, you see a list of all 7 preset EQ settings (including normal), and as you move from setting to setting, you can listen to that EQ setting take effect WITHOUT having to choose that setting! This is the most interactive, most amazing EQ menu effect that I have seen implemented yet in portable MP3s, and it just blows me away. A custom option also exists within the EQ menu, and that lets you change the treble and bass settings. In fact, all of the EQ presets are essentially bass and treble filters, but they are different enough that I think some of you may have use for them with various material.

Considering the fact that the player has the backlight and the fast response speed, I would have guessed it would require a lot of power to run. Instead, the player runs off of a single AA battery, and a fresh battery should last you over 10 hours, according to Diamond. Thats a pretty damn impressive operating life from a single battery.

Comments

Just recieved the rio 600 off ebay for a lousy 40 bucks. Have been impressed with the way it works, I have the 64MB model. The software it came with sucks, it runs through the real 1 media software which came with the unit. After playing around with it I found that the windows media player worked much better than the real 1 media software. Using the wma format(comes w/ winmedia player) I was able to fit 43 short songs on my 64MB unit. This is roughly more than double what I could fit in mp3 format, and my ear could only very slightly tell the difference. I would like to add more memory to it but am confused as to which style of smart media cards my unit takes. I went to a store and looked at them and found there are a few different types all priced more than I paid for the player.I believe the smallest of the smart media cards is the correct one as the others didn't look like they would fit. Being a cheap bastard, I think i'll wait until the price of the cards comes down a bit.My only real complaint is that the clock in the unit does not keep good time, it resets for some reason every now and again. In short I like the player and got one for my girlfriend after mine arrived. Junk the software it came with and download the latest freeware version of Win Media Player; it is clearly better than real 1.

Does anyone have the software for the Rio 600, I'v just bought one from a second hand shop and it did'nt come with anything :-( So I'm without it and I'm also without a USB cable. I can't seem to find any here in Australia. Can someone send me a zip file with the software?The USB cable well I would have to pay for the shipment!

The person that reviewed this player is the same guy that writes about new automobiles in our local newspaper. Never saw a bad on, even if the fenders fell off the first block. The good thing is that the brakes worked so you could go back and pick them up. Being an Audible member, from the time they opened and having been through the Audio Mobile, Rio 500 and now the Rio 600 w/backpack, I find this unit the worse. Supposed to use mp3 and wma and use RioPort, (for other downloads than Audible) but it has a serious problem trying to connect with the programs. I suggest that anyone thinking about buying one, make the store show you that it will work. I had to return the first two Best Buy because of problems.

Most, if not all battery level indicators work by comparing the voltage level of the battery, which changes as the battery is used, against a reference. I think that the reference in the player may drift over time (because it may not be stored or detected digitally), and when it does, new batteries may show up as less than 100% charge. When this happens, the Calibrate function will set the 100% reference at the voltage level of a new battery. That's why it asks you for a new battery...

Could someone answer a question for me? If you go into the Rio 600's menu, and choose Prefs, then Battery you have two options. The Power Level is obvious, that shows you the battery level, but does anyone have any idea what Calibrate does? When I select it it asks me to first insert a new battery. My only guess would be this is to reset the power level of the battery to 100%, but isn't the point of the power level that it can autodetect power levels? Thanks

Ok so I wrote 2 weeks, but I actually had the player for a month and a half before the article got published (I wrote it long before it got published, and I re-edited just a week or so before it went live).

The software complaint is valid, but really there aren't too many good MP3 software interfaces out there. Don't even get me started on some of those . I really didn't like the whole db thing much, but I think I pointed that out .

On the other hand, the damn backpack issue is a big concern, because I have been waiting to see whether they will come out with a SmartMedia or CompactFlash adapter backpage, like they promised, and I see nothing.

As far as price goes, I don't think it's true that you would be paying a lot if you got all the things you wanted. It depends though. Let's say you were to buy online. As of today, the lowest price I can find for the Rio600 is 150USD, and the Rio500 goes for $190 or so, so that's only a $30 difference, so you can perceive that as "not being worth it" cuz of the RAM difference. But the Rio600 has a better menu system, a better LCD display, sounds better (to me), and is a LOT faster when it seeks through tracks. The Rio500 has better buttons, and a way cool jog dial for options changes (on top of 64MB of memory vs. the Rio600's 32MB).

Some things you want you can't even get (like a belt clip, you have to buy a pouch instead). The biggest concern is whether or not you can even get the accessories when you want to. It's as bad as the Samsung YEPP, which some users say they can't get any YEPP cards for.

The author of the article just have 2 weeks with the player and I own one since nearly 2 months and I'm very satisfied with the sound quality, but after 2 months of use I'm still waiting for the memory backpacks and the tephlon cover of the player is wearing out in the corners and edges.

I won one of these two weeks ago (MP3 players aren't my particular vice) and have enjoyed playing with it.I love the player (just like the reviewer) but thought the software was awful. It cannot "autodetect" the player, but when I set it to use the Rio 600, it doesn't save the settings.The next time I start the software again, it freaks out for while, till I can dig through the menus to change the player type. The database is a pain in the butt. Finally, this is a complaint about all of the mp3 related software I have ever used... Why can't I change the track data after the mp3 is created?

Be aware, this is a nice player, but it is no less expensive than others once you buy all of the stuff you want, but Diamond didn't include.